Process and machine for making plated fabrics



0a. 16, 1934. A, E PAGE HAL -1',977,590

PROCESS AND MACHINE FOR MAKING PLATED FABRICS Filed Sept. 17. 1926 4 Shets-Sheet 1' Thai.

Zia/anion? ALBERT E. PAGEAU FRANK R. PAGE WWW Oct. 16, 1934. v 5 G ET 1,977,590

PROCESS AND MACHINE FOR MAKING PLATED FABRICS Filed Sept. 17. 1926 4 Shets-Sheet 2 .1m. W I

Jhven?ar5 ALBERT E.PAGE/b' FRANK R. PAGE Oct. 16, 1934. I A, 5 PAGE r AL 1,977,590

PROCESS AND MACHINE FOR MAKING PLATED FABRICS Filed Sept. 17, 1926 V 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 jizveni'vr's' ALBERT E.PAGE/ FRANK R. PAGE 0 Q9 ikez'r" attorneys Oct. 16, 1934.

A. E. PAGE El" AL PROCESS AND MACHINE FOR MAKING PLATED FABRICS Filed Sept. 17. 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 .Zhveniars ALBERT E. PAGE FRANK R. PAGE Jy their attorneys A a-WWW Patented Oct. 16, 1934 PATENT OFFICE PROCESS AND MACHINE FOR MAKING PLATED FABRICS Albert E. Page and Frank R. Page, Brooklyn, N. Y.,

assignors to Scott &

43 Claims.

This invention relates to a process for making patterns in plated knit goods by reversing the plating, and to a machine for carrying out that process. One object of the invention is the development of a process and a simple machine for making plated fabrics with varied patterns such as stripes of unlimited width, blocks of color or diagonal designs. Another object of the invention is the production of a machine on which the pattern can easily be changed. Another object of the invention is the relative manipulation of the yarns in such" manner as to produce predetermined turned-over plating of any desired width, with absolutecertainty as to the wales in the fabric on which the turned-over plating is to begin and end.

According to this invention a special form of sinker is provided which manipulates the yarns in such manner that the needles in the course of their regular movements reverse the plating whenever required for the desired pattern.

According to the present invention the needles are permitted to do the reversing, but the yarns have their feeding position varied--though not reversed-not by the positions of the needles relatively to each other but by means of the manipulation of certain novel sinkers. These sinkers can each be specially manipulated in such a manner as to cause the needles on either side of it to reverse the yarns; and this special manipulation can be given or not as desired from course to course.

In the specification the invention will be shown and described in connection with the well known Scott & Williams seamless hosiery machine of the revolving needle cylinder type, but it should be understood that this invention is applicable to both circular and straight bar machines whether they contain latch needles or bearded needles.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows the throatplate in plan and sumcient of the sinkers, yarns and needles of an independent needle circular knitting machine in extended development to illustrate one application of the new process;

Fig. 2 is a similar development showing an alternative arrangement of sinkers;

Figs. 3 and 4 are a plan view and a bottom plan view of a sinker cap showing cam means adapted 'to manipulate the novel sinkers shown in Figs. 1

and 2;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of sufiicient of an independent needle circular knitting-inachine to show the mechanism adapted to operate the sinker throw-in cam;

Williams, Incorporated,

New) York, N. Y., a corporation oi. Massachuse Application September 17, 1926, Serial No. 136,141

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation through the sinker cap on the line 66 of Fig. 4 showing all the sinkers withdrawn;

Fig. 7 is a similar elevation showing the movable throw-in cam lowered half way and the high butt special sinkers pushed forward;

Fig. 8 is the same elevation showing the throwin cam lowered entirely and both high and medium butt special sinkers pushed forward but the low butt or regular sinkers still withdrawn;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view of a needle, yarns and Parts of the sinkers after the stitch has been drawn;

Fig. 10 is a side view of the special sinker on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 11 is a side view of a modified form of special sinker on an enlarged scale, having operating butts in two positions;

Fig. 12 is a plan view of part of a sinker cap adapted to cooperate with the sinker shown in Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a side elevation of mechanism adapted to operate the sinker throw-in cam for the secondary butt;

Fig. 14 is a side view 01 a special sinker with so modified catch;

Fig. 15 is a bottom plan view of part of a sinker cap adapted to operate the sinker shown in Fig. 14;

. Fig. 16 is a side view of a turn-back sinker; Fig. 17 is part of a pattern made according to this invention; and

Fig. 18 is a perspective of a portion of the sinker cap shown in Fig. 12 with two thrust rods to operate each throw-in cam.

When stripes in plating are obtained by letting the needles do the reversing the yarns are, in efiect, ted to opposite sides of the inside of the hooks of the different needles, the yarns lying close to or touching the stem of the regular needles, but lying near the inside of the points of the hooks of the needles where stripes are desired. When the needles are drawn down at the knitting point this difference in the feeding position of the yarns permits the needles themselves toactually reverse the relative positions of the yams in the needles.

The machine which is shown in the drawings is a seamless hosiery machine of the well known Scott in Williams type with a revolving needle 5 cylinder 260; bedplate D, and main pattern drum 120 operated, for instance, as shown and described in the patent to Robert W. Scott 1,152,850 dated September '1, 1915. The sinkers move radially in the revolving sinker ring 295 under the control of the stationary sinker cap 300 in whose cam path 305 move the operating butts of the sinkers.

The sinkers are of the loop-retaining type, being shown in the drawings as webholders such as are used in the usual external sinker ring circular hosiery machine. Each sinker has an operating butt (1,. b or c at the outer or rear end; and an upper arm w and a lower arm 11) both facing forward (Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 10). The upper edge of the upper arm w constitutes a belly orledge over which the stitches may be drawn. Facing forward above the ledge is the nose w or neb, a horizontal throat for holding down the new stitch being located between the ledge w and the nose 10 The sinkers are so controlled with respect to the needles that when they are pushed in to operative position the bottoms of the throats w are opposite the back or outside of the stems of the needles N (Figs. 1 and 2). The ordinary sinkers 292 and the special sinkers 293, 293, 293 are interspersed in the sinker ring 295, special sinkers being placed between all the needles on which any part of the pattern may require the yarns reversed. Figs. 1 and 2 show different arrangements of the sinkers, the sinkers and needles, for simplicity, being shown in straight line.

In ordinary knitting a loop-forming sinker is not pushed in to operative position until some time after the approaching yarns are below the point of the neb, and the loops are drawn over the ledge. When plain plating is desired, all the sinkers in a machine made according to our invention are manipulated in this manner. It will be observed from Fig. 1 that when the ordinary sinker 292 is pushed in to operative position the back end of the neb lies outside of the points of the hooks of the adjacent needles."

When patterning is desired, the special sinker used in this invention does not allow the yarns to come in front of the neb at all, but positions the yarns in back of the nose in such manner that the needles, when pulled downwardly to form the new stitches, actually reverse theyarns themselves. To accomplish this the special sinkers each have a yarn-positioning edge or catch 10 lying just inside the points'of the hooks of the needles when the sinkers are in operative position. This reverse catch w may be brought to this position either by an extra long inward movement of the sinker, or by cutting away part of the material back of thefthroat of the sinker and giving the sinker a movement of ordinary length. The catch 10. faces in a direction opposite to the neb and to the normal direction of a-catch in loop-drawing sinkers, and serves not only to position the yarns for reversal by the neighboring needles but also to draw part of the loop. This latter function can be seen in Fig. 9 where the length of the loop n? over the special sinkers is due partly to the distance from the back of the stem through the previous loop 11. lying in the throat to the catch, and is due partly to the level to which the needle is lowered. To equalize the lengths of the loops formed on the ordinary and the special sinkers the catch w can be cut down to a level slightly below the ledge.

The manipulation of the special sinkers to get the facing yarn, or both'yarns, back of the catch w and to carry them toward the inside of the point of the hooks of the needles on which reversal of the yarns is desired, involves pushing the sinkers in before the yarns pass below the level of the point of the nose. In the case of the sinker shown in Figs. 1, 2, 10 and 11 the movement consists of a withdrawal of the sinkers by cam 307 just before the throatplate 559 is reached, and a return to normal operative position just afterthe throatplate' is passed. Since the regular sinkers 292 are not pushed in till they reach throw-in cam' 309 after the knocking over point is reached, a vertically movable throw-in cam 325 is provided for the special sinkers. (These cam paths for the sinkers are shown shaded inFig. 4, and the direction'of movement of the sinkers is shown in Figs. 3 and 4 by arrows.) In order that the regular sinkers may not be actuated by this movable throw in cam 325 the regular sinkers have low operating butts a and the cam 325 is not of full depth. When the cam is in its lower operative position these low operating butts a of the regular sinkers pass under the cam 325, while the medium butts b and high butts c of the special sinkers are engaged by it and thrown inwardly (Fig. 8).

This movable throw-in cam 325 is normally held out of action by a semi-circular flat spring 327 on the underside of which it is mounted.

The spring is fastened in an upsprung position on top of the sinker cap 300 by screws 328 at the ends of the spring. The cam can be operated from the main pattern drum 120 and the auxiliary pattern drum 20 through the usual thrust rod 460, as shown in Fig. 5. At the top of the thrust rod is a-dog 332 overlying the flat spring 327 and there is a coiled tension spring 333 holding thelower end of the thrust rod against the drum cams 501 and 502 on the main pattern drum 120. The lower part of the thrust rod passes through a slot in the lower guide plate 451 fastened on the stud 450 by a screw 452, as usual. The throw-in cam 325 is held out of action when the thrust rod is on the high drum cam 502, is lowered part way into action as shown in Fig. 7 when the thrust rod is on the low drum cam 501, and goes into its lowest or full operative position when the thrust rod' drops off onto the surface of the main pattern drum 120. When it is de-- sired to move the throw-in cam at more frequent intervals the auxiliary striping drum 20 can be used to move the thrust rod against the tension spring 333 as shown in Fig; 5. In this case there is a bell crank lever 1'1 swivelled on a shaft 18 with the upper arm of the lever taking under a lug'on the thrust rod and with the lower arm bearing against a drum cam 22 or 22 on the surface of the auxiliary pattern drum. By means of having two heights of butts, two pattern drums and two heights of drum cams on the auxiliary drum 20 and one height on the main drum one or both of two sets of special sinkers can be manipulated to bring about reversal of the plating for a variable number of courses of knitting. This combination permits making a pattern which contains alternate solid and hollow squares of reverse plating.

In order to make so-called diagonal patterns it is necessary that the two groups of special sinkers be operable alternately. To achieve this the sinkers can be operated from. different butt positions. A sinker 293' adapted to be operated either from the regular butt or a vertical secondary butt d between the regular butt and the catch 10 is shown in Fig. 11. The throw-in cam for this secondary butt does not project downwardly from the top of the sinker cap but extends inwardly therefrom and when pressed down on the top of the sinker cap lies in the path of the secondary butts. The earn 329 can be formed out of a spring piece similar to one half the flat spring 327, and the remaining half can be used to carry the throw-in cam 325. In Fig. 12 this secondary butt cam is shown throwing in a series of double butted sinkers 293 the direction of movement of the sinkers being indicated by an arrow as before. To operate this secondary throw-in cam 329mechanism similar to that shown for the throw-in cam 325 can be used. In Fig. 13 this is shown consisting of a bell crank lever 462 pivoted on the latch ring 550, with a bent thrust rod 461 linked thereto. The other elements can be the same' as in the case of the throw-in cam 325.

The throw-in cam 325 and the secondary butt throw-in cam 329 can each be operated by a separate thrust rod for each operative position, if desired. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 18 in which thrust rods 461 are designed to pull their throw-in cams down to their lowermost positions, and the thrust rods 461 are designed to insert their throw-in cams half way, the cams having feet which rest against the sinker cap and thus accurately determine the half Way position.

\Two heights of butts can be employed.

If the special sinker 293 is given a catch which is not rounded off but has a vertical edge 11) as shown in Fig. 14, the manipulation of the sinker will be slightly different. In this case when the special sinkers are pushed in they will be shoved a little further than usual by a throw-in cam 325 to allow the yarns'to get outside of and down opposite the catch w, and then brought out to their normal operative position. A sinker cap to effect this movement is shown in Fig. 15. It will be observed that the regular sinkers do not get this extra movement. I

With some yarns of a fine gauge it may be advisable to employ a so-called throatless tum-back sinker 294 (Figs. 2 and 16) to insure that the special sinkers do not cause the needles to turn over an extra stitch after the last one intended. Such a sinker holds the lower yam near the stem of the adjacent needle.

Since each special sinker positions the yams in the needle on either side of it, the special sinkers need be put in only every other groove in the sinker ring, and the alternate groove may be filled with a regular sinker (Fig. 2).,

The process of knitting a patterned fabric may be described as follows. As the sinkers approach the throat-plate 559 their operating butts moving' in the cam path 305 ride against the cam 307 and are pushed radially outward to inoperative position.- As they pass the ,throatplate the yarns 11 and 11, coming from the yarn fingers F, pass over the edge 560 of the throatplate and down under the hooks of the needles. The, normal relative positions of the two yarns incircular knitting is with the facing yarn 1: lower than the backing yarn and nearer to the stem of the needle than the point of the hook, e Whenever this lower yarn is allowed to remain nearer the stem than the point of the hook the needle will bring that yarn to the face of the fabric. As the needle cylinder continues to revolve the yarns are moved down in front of the nebs of the regular sinkers 292, and against the ledges to form the stitch. These regular sinkers are then inserted and help to hold down the stitches while the needles are rising again.

The special sinkers operate differently. They are pushed in to regular operative position sooner than the regular sinkers, namely before the yarns get below the neb, and the yarns are guided in back of the neb and outwardly till they lie nearer the points of the needle hooks than the stems though still under the hooks. In the case of the sinker shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 10 the guiding occurs while the sinker is held stationary, but in the case of the sinker shown in Fig. 14 the sinker is pushed inwardly till the catch has passed beyond the yarns and then after the yarns have come down opposite and outside the catch 1016 the sinker makes a return outward movement to the operative position of the regular sinkers, thus positioning the yarns nearer the points of the needle hook.

The inward movement of the special sinkers, as in the case of the regular sinkers slides the previous stitch a into the throat w the stitches having been brought down to the ledge by the movement of the needles. As the adjacent needles descend the yarns y and y slide up the inside of thepoint of the needle hook rather than the stem, and the yarn 11 comes to the face of the fabric-just the reverse of what is happening in the needles whose adjacent sinkers are regular ones. The new stitches n on the special sinkers are drawn over the bottom of the catch to as shown in Figs. 1 and 9. After passing the knocking-over point the needles rise and the new stitches n are lifted above the neb. The subsequent retiring of the sinkers will bring the stitches in front of the nebs.

If it is desired to knit the pattern shown in Fig. 17 it is necessary toemploy double butted sinkers 293 such as shown in Fig. 11 as well as the special sinkers 293, but only one height of cam 22 on the auxiliary pattern drum 20 is necessary. Special sinkers 293 should be used between the needles on which one series of squares are desired, and double-butted sinkers 293 with low primary operating butts should be used between needles which are to knit the other set of squares. In Fig. 17 the courses knit with the sinkers 293 specially manipulated are indicated by longitudinal sectioned stripes, it thus being possible by changing the color of the backing yarn 11 to make the reverse-plated squares at the sinkers 293 of a different color from the squares formed at the sinkers 293. When the first course is reached in which it is desired to reverse the plating to make squares on the wales adjacent to the sinkers 293, the thrust rod 460 drops off the high drum cam 502 on the drum 120 and the corresponding bell cranklever 17 drops 01! its cam. 22 on the drum 20.. The spring 333 thereupon pulls the movable throw-in cam 325- and are acted upon at the normal time by the stationary throw-in cam 309 to produce normal plating. When the first course is reached in which it is desired to reverse the plating to make squares on the wales adjacent to the sinkers 293* the spring cam 329 is lowered into engagement with the secondary butts d of the. double-butted sinkers 293 (Figs. 11 and 12) by the bent thrust rod 461 dropping off its cam 502 on the main drum 120, and the bell crank lever dropping off a cam 22 on the auxiliary drum 20--all as in the case of the first course making reverse plating at the sinkers 293. The throw-in cam 325 still being in the position shown in Fig. 6, the sinkers 293 which made the previous series of squares, now are unaifecte'd and act in the normal manner. When no reversal of plating is to be made for a considerable number of courses the cams on the main pattern drum raise the thrust rods 460 and 461.

The use of two heights of drum cams on the main pattern drum 120 or the auxiliary pattern drum 20, and two heights of butts on the special sinkers is of use when it is desired to throw one or both of two sets of sinkers as distinguished from alternative sets. Such a combination can be availed of to make alternate solid and hollow squares, the three positions of the movable throwsinker in a special manner, and preferably modifying the shape of the sinker slightly, the plating can be reversed at will without the addition of any cumbersome elements or harming the functions of any part of the machine. The machine can be used for plain plated knitting, plating reversing, or plating reversing in combination with any other pattern means-as desired. The simplicity and adaptability of the process and machine will appeal to practical knitters.

Many modifications will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of our invention.

What we claim is:

1. In a process of knitting plated fabrics the steps of guiding yarns in back of the nebs of the sinkers and nearer the points of the adjacent needle hooks than the stems, then reversing the plating by pulling the needles down.

2. In a knitting process for producing patterns in plated fabric the step of guiding the lower yarn in back of the throats of the sinkers toward the inside of the points of the hooks of the needles where striping is desired by means of placing reverse yarn-positioning edges ofthe adjacent sinkers inside the points of the needle hooks before the knocking-over point is reached.

3. In a process of knitting plated fabrics the steps of pushing into loop retaining position before the yarns pass below the nebs of the sinkers such sinkers as lie between needles on which it is desired to reverse the plating, then holding such sinkers stationary and allowing all the yarns to be guided by such sinkers up the point side of the needle hooks as the needles are pulled down, then pushing into the same loop-retaining position the remainder of the sinkers, substantially as described.

4. In an independent needle knitting machine, a series of loop-retaining sinkers, and butts of two heights on said sinkers, in combination with a reverse yarn-positioning catch'back of the neb of each high butt sinker, a cam adapted to push in the high butt sinkers and a second cam adapted to subsequently push in the low butt sinkers.

5. In an independent needle knitting machine a series of loop-retaining sinkers, each'having an operating butt, a neb and a catch in back of and holding the yarn away from said throat, and a second series of sinkers intercalated with said first series of sinkers in combination with a cam track adapted to give said sinkers strokes of uniform length, a series of independently operated 'sinker cap and loopretaining sinkers adapted to cooperate with said needles and each having a needles having their hooks facing towards the nebs, and the catches of the sinkers of the first series lying partly within the circle formed by the needle hooks when said sinkers are in operative position.

6. In a circular knitting machine a series of independently operated latch needles, a sinker cap, a circle of loop-retaining sinkers each having a ledge, a throat, a neb and an operating butt adapted to run in the cam track in said sinker cap, said sinkers being divided in two series, one series having a'yarn-positioning catch behind the neb facing away therefrom, and a cam adapted to insert said mentioned sinkers before the yarns pass below the nebs, substantially asdescribed.

7. In a circular knitting machine a revolving needle cylinder, a series of independently operated latch needles in said cylinder, an external throat and aninwardly facing neb in combination with an outwardly facing catch behind the neb of certain of said sinkers adapted to guide yarns coming down on top of the neb in back of and away from said throat, high operating butts on the sinkers having catches and relatively low butts on the remainder of the sinkers, and a movable cam in the track of' the sinker cap adapted to engage the butts of said high butt sinkers in advance of the normal throw-in cam and to position the catches of said sinkers within the points of the needle hooks before the yarn passes below the nebs of the sinkers.

B. In a circular knitting machine, a revolving needle cylinder, a series of needles in said cylinder, and a circle of loop-retaining sinkers each having a throat and an inwardly facing .neb and adapted to cooperate with said needles, an outwardly facing catch on certain of said sinkers in 115 back of the neb and-adapted to hold yarns away from said throat and against the insides of the points of thehooks of the needles, in combination with operating butts of varied heights on said certain sinkers, a movable sinker throw-in cam, 120 a pattern drum and two heights of cams thereon adapted to insert said movable sinker throw-in cam to two different positions.-

9. In a circular knitting machine, a series" of independently operated latch needles, a sinker cap, and a circle of loop-retaining sinkers each having a throat, a neb and an operating butt, said sinkers being of three kinds, one kind having a low operating butt, another kind having a high operating butt and a catch behind the neb 130 and facng in. the opposite direction from the throat, the third kind having two operating butts and a catch behind the neb and facing in the ophaving catches in back of and adapted to hold the yarns away from the throats, the distance from said catch to the bottom of the throat being less than the distance from the outside of the stem of the needle to the inside of the point of the needle, substantially as described.

11. In a circular knitting machine aseries of independently operated needles, loop-retaining sinkers having throats and nebs adapted to cooperate with said needles, certain of said sinkers each having a catch in back of the throat, the horizontal distance from part of said catch to the bottom of the throat being less than the distance from the outside of the stem of the needle to the inside of the point of the needle hook, the back of the stem being opposite the bottom of the throat of the sinker when the sinker is in operative position.

12. In a circular knitting machine a series of independently operated needles, loop retaining sinkers having throats and nebs adapted to cooperate with said needles, certain of said sinkers each having a yarn-positioning catch facing in v the opposite direction from the throat, and cam means adapted to vary the manipulation of the sinkers to cause the yarns to descend on opposite sides of the sinker nebs and be knitted in, substantially as described.

13. A loop-retaining sinker adapted to cooperate with the needles of a knitting machine adapted to make reverse plated fabric, and having a throat and a neb and reverse yam-positioning catch'behind said neb, as and for the purposes described.

14. A loop-retaining sinker adapted to cooperate with a latch needle in a machine adapted to make reverse plated fabric, and having a throat and a neb facing forward and a yarn-positioning catch behind said neb facing backward, in combination with a ledge forming a continuation of one edge of the throat, the lower end of said catch being lower than said ledge.

15. A loop-retaining sinker adapted to cooperate with a latch needle, and having a forwardly facing throat and neb, in combination with a yarn-positioning catch facing in the Opposite direction and sloping from a point on top of the neb approximately above the bottom of the throat to a point in back of the neb and below the level of the ledge and adapted to guide yarns toward the point side of the adjacent needle hooks as the needles are drawn down, which latterpoint is horizontally distant from the I bottom of the throat a distance slightly less than the distance from the back of the stem of the cooperating needle to the inside of the point of needle.

16. A loop-retaining sinker having a throat and neb, a yarn-positioning catch back of said neb facing in the opposite direction in combination with two vertical operating butts, one butt being located at the end of the sinker in back of the neb and the other butt being located between the flrst-mentioned butt and said catch.

17. A loop-retaining sinker having a forwardly facing throat and neb, a yarn positioning catch back of said neb facing backwardly in combination with two vertical operating butts, the lower of such butts being. located at the end of the sinker in back of the neb and the higher butt being located between said lower butt and said catch, the horizontal distance from the bottom of the throat to the catch being slightly less than thedistance from the back of the stem of the needle to the inside of the point of the needle hook, substan-' below the neb and by means of said sinker guiding all the yarns up the point side of the adjacent needle hooks as the needles are pulled down.

19. In a knitting process for producing patterns in plate fabric the steps of pushing in the sinkers located between the needles on which it is desired to reverse the plating, thereby engaging the previous loops-in the throats of the sinkers, allowing the sinkers to guide the yarns in back of the throats of the sinkers and to the point side of the hooks of the adjacent needles and then reversing the plating by pulling down the needles, substantially as described.

20. In a process of knitting plated fabric, the steps of pushing into loop-retaining position, before the yarns pass below the nebs of the sinkers, such sinkers as lie between needles on which it is desired to reverse the plating, allowing the sinkers to guide the yarns in back of the throats of such sinkers and to the point side of the needle hooks as the needles are pulled down, then pushing into the same loop-retaining position the remainder ofthe sinkers and on the succeeding course pushing into loop-retaining position after the yarns have passed below the nebs one of the sinkers which on the previous course waspushed into position before the yarns pass below the neb, substantially as described.

21. A loop-retaining sinker adapted to cooperate with the needles of, a knitting machine adapted to make reverse plated fabric and having a throat and a'neb and a yarn-positioning catch behind said neb adapted when the throat is in loop-retaining position to lead descending yarns below the top and in back of said neb.

22. A sinker having a plurality of operating butts, a neb, and a reverse yarn positioning catch behind said neb, the sinker being adapted to cooperate with the needles of a reverse plating knitting machine.

23. In a circular knitting machine, a series of sinkers with operating butts in a plurality of planes, in combination with a vertically flexible fiat spring, having a cam means-on a free portion thereof; the vertical flexing causing the cam means to be operative relative to the butts in the several planes.

24. In an independent needle knitting machine, a series of loop-retaining sinkers and butts of varied height on said sinkers, in combination with avertically flexible flat spring, whose free end is adapted to act as a cam and a thrust rodadapted to flex the free end of said spring vertically into selective contact with the butts of said sinkers of varied height, and thus push said sinkers radially inward. i

25. Mechanism for efiecting plating and reverse plating in a knitted fabric including a series of independent needles, thread engaging instrumentalities for each needle respectively including regular web holders, and including special instrumentalities where reverse plating is. to be formed, all of said instrumentalities being movable individually transverse to the needle series,

said. instrumentality having an upper nib and a I notch or recess directly under the same, said instrumentality having a downwardly, outwardly inclined edge extending from the top or back portion of said nib and adapted in reverse plating to receive one at least of the threads during the loop forming operation and cooperating with the needle in effecting reverse plating.

27. In a process of knitting plated fabrics, the steps of pushing into loop-retaining position before the yarns pass below the nebs of the sinkers such sinkers as are desired to cause reverse plating, and measuring the new loops of the yarns by drawing them in back of the throats of those sinkers.

28. In a process of knitting plated fabrics, the steps of pushing selected sinkers into loop-retaining position before the yarns pass below the nebs of those sinkers for the purpose of cooperating in the effecting of reverse plating, then keeping the new yarns out of the throats of those sinkers until the new loops are pulled through the old loops by the needles.

29. In a process of knitting plated fabrics, the steps of pushing selected sinkers into loop-retaining position before the yarns pass below the nebs of those sinkers for the purpose of cooperating in the effecting of reverse plating, then keeping the new yarns out of the throats of those sinkers until the new loops are pulled through the old loops and allowing all the yarns to be guided by such sinkers up the point side of the needle hooks as the needles are pulled down, then pushing into loop-retaining position the remainder of the sinkers.

30. In a process of knitting plated fabrics, the steps of pushing into loop-retaining position before the yarns pass below the nebs of the sinkers, the sinkers where reverse plating is desired, locating the sinkers so that the yarns lie in back of the throats of such sinkers and near the point side of the needle hooks as the needles are pulled down, drawing the new loops over the backs of the nebs of such sinkers and then pushing into loop-retaining position the remainder of the sinkers.

31. In a knitting process for producing reverse plated patterns, the steps of locating selected sinkers so that yarns are placed behind the nebs of those sinkers for the purpose of cooperating in the effecting of reverse plating, and then casting off the old loops while the new loops are in back of the nebs of the selected sinkers.

32. In a knitting process for producing reverse plated patterns, the steps of locating selected sinkers so that loops are drawn behind the nebs of those sinkers for the purpose of cooperating in the effecting of reverse plating, and then casting off the old loops while the new loops are in back of the nebs of the selected sinkers.

33. In a process of knitting plated fabrics, the steps of locating yarns in back of the throats of selected sinkers for the purpose of cooperating in the effecting of reverse plating, pulling the needles down and meshing the new stitches through the old stitches while the new stitches are in back of the throats and the old stitches in the throats of the sinkers, and subsequently moving the new stitches into the throats of the sinkers.

34. In a process of knitting plated fabrics, the steps of locating yarns in back of the nebs of sinkers and nearer the points of the adjacent needle hooks than the stems, then reversing the plating by pulling the needles down and drawing the new loops in back of the nebs.

35. In a process of knitting plated fabrics, the steps of pushing selected sinkers radially inward before the yarns pass below the nebs so that the yarns are located behind the nebs of those sinkers for the purpose of cooperating in effecting reverse plating, withdrawing those sinkers sufl'iciently to alter the position of the yarns relatively to the needle hooks and then drawing the new loops behind the nebs.

36. In a process of knitting plated fabrics, the steps of pushing selected sinkers radially inward before the yarns pass below the nebs so that the yarns are located behind the nebs of those sinkers for the purpose of cooperating in effecting reverse plating, pushing the selected sinkers radially outward to engage the yarns against the points of the hooks of the needles, and then drawing the new loops behind the nebs.

37. A circular knitting machine having independent needles adapted to plate and reverse plate in a knitted fabric, including a series of independent needles, thread guiding means to feed a back thread and a facing thread in plating relation to the needles, thread engaging instrumentalities intercalated with said needles and adapted to be moved individually transverse of the needle series, including special instrumentalities where reverse plating is to be performed, having an upper nib, the outer edge whereof is downwardly sloping and is adapted to receive at least one of said threads during loop formation for the purpose of assisting in reverse plating.

38. In an independent needle circular knitting machine, a series of loop-retaining sinkers having nebs thereon and yarn positioning catches in back of the nebs on one or more of said sinkers, and thread guiding means to feed yarns in plating relation to the needles, said yarn positioning catches being adapted to receive yarns for the purpose of cooperating in the effecting of reverse plating.

39. A circular knitting machine having a series of independent needles and loop-retaining sinkers having throats and nebs adapted to cooperate with said needles, thread guiding means to feed yarns to the needles in plating relation, a plurality of said sinkers having outer edges in back of the nebs, adapted to cooperate in the causing of reverse plating when pushed into loop-retaining position before the yarns pass below the nebs of the sinkers, and means adapted to select from among said sinkers having said outer edges to cause reverse plating on some of said sinkers only.

40. Mechanism for effecting plating and reverse plating in a knitted fabric including a series of independent needles, thread engaging insltrumentalities for each needle respectively including regular web holders, and including special instrumentalities where reverse plating is to be formed, all of said instrumentalities being movable individually transverse to the needleseries, thread guiding means to feed a back thread and a face thread in plating relation to the needles, each of said special instrumentalities having an upper nib, the outer edge whereof is downwardly sloping and is adapted to receive said yarns during loop formation and for the purpose of effecting reverse plating.

41. Mechanism for effecting plating and reverse plating in knitted fabric, including a series of independent needles, thread engaging instrumentalities for each needle including special instrumentalities having downwardly sloping outer edges in back of the neb, all of said instrumentalities being movable independently transverse of the needle series, and thread guiding means to feed two or more yarns in plating relation to the needles, the outer ecges of said special instrumentalities being adapted to receive said yarns during loop formation for the purpose of assisting in reverse plating.

4.2. Mechanism for effecting plating and reverse plating in knitted fabric, including a series of independent needles, thread engaging instrumentalities for each needle including special instrumentalities having downwardly sloping outer edges in back of the neb, all of said instrumentalities being movable independently transverse of the needle series, thread guiding means to feed two or more yarns in plating relation to the needles, the outer edges of said special instrumentalities being adapted to receive said yarns during loop formation for the purpose of assisting in reverse plating, and means adapted to locate some of said special instrumentalities to cooperate in reverse plating and adapted not to locate other special instrumentalities for that purpose. 43. In a process for knitting reverse plated fabric, the steps of pushing radially inward to reverse plating position those sinkers which are to cause reversal of the yarns before the yarns pass below the nebs of the sinkers, thereafter holding the sinkers in said inward position and measuring the new loops of the yarns by drawing the loops in back of the throats of those sinkers to approximately the same length as normal plated loops.

. ALBERT E. PAGE.

FRANK R. PAGE. 

